


Talk Secrets To Me

by Howlingdawn



Category: Psych
Genre: Bisexual Male Character, Coming Out, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode: s03e07 Talk Derby To Me, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Relationship, and i was too stubborn to change it, but for the sake of this fic it happens after ep14, i got the scenario stuck in my head before realizing the correct order of the eps
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-24
Updated: 2018-08-24
Packaged: 2019-07-02 00:35:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,994
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15785340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Howlingdawn/pseuds/Howlingdawn
Summary: Being alone with Juliet on a dark skating rink tends to lead to some deeper conversation topics than Shawn was necessarily expecting. But he's actually ok with that for once.





	Talk Secrets To Me

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot believe my first posted Shules fic is pre-relationship, but the timing of this idea didn't wanna be changed so here I am, writing pre-relationship Shules

Shawn found himself sprawled across some of the skating rink's uncomfortable plastic chairs, waiting for Juliet to come drop off her skates. He had a little set-up planned to throw her off when she got here – dealing with real emotions was so not his thing – but that wasn't _really_ why he was waiting. Thinking she was dead yesterday, that some skater had taken that beautiful, blonde, badass, golden-hearted ray of sunshine from the world, from _his_ world, over some credit card fraud…

Wedge-wearing footsteps clacked across the rink towards him. He glanced over, seeing Juliet in civvies – jeans, with a bright yellow top and matching sweater. Rather appropriate, considering the metaphor he'd just been imagining. Give her a few seconds to come closer, and…

He sat up with a sigh as his muscles stretched. She stopped with a startled gasp, and he played it off. "Oh, hey, Jules! What are you doing here?"

She held up her skates. "I'm returning my equipment, what are _you_ doing here?"

He shrugged. "Just hangin', you know? Chillin'."

She nodded a little, some of her surprise melting away, but she didn't look convinced.

"I was actually feeling a little nostalgic. Remember when we cracked that case here, and the criminals turned out to be roller derby girls?"

"Yeah, I remember that," she said, starting to smile at his ridiculousness.

"Gosh," he said, pushing himself upright, "seems like it was just yesterday."

"Probably because it-" She glanced down, noticing that he was wearing skates. "- _was_ yesterday- Why are you wearing skates?"

Shawn looked down. Next to her cute black-and-pink ones, his brown ones were butt-ugly. "Oh, hey, look at that! I guess I am." He gave a shrug, gesturing a little at the rink around them. "I don't know, I guess I just thought it was a shame – we have this big, beautiful track and no one to skate on it. It's also been a long while since I've had a good blister."

Juliet nodded along, lips pursed in grudgingly amused agreement. Shawn lifted a finger, twirling it around in the agreed-upon signal to the D.J. hiding in the shadows. She furrowed her brows, following Shawn's gaze to the silhouetted figure.

"This will be a couples skate," he announced in a deep, gentle voice. "Couples only."

Juliet turned back to Shawn, trying to look disapproving. But as a pop romance song started playing and he gave his best cute little shrug, the chuckle broke through. In that moment, he wished the music hadn't been playing, so that little laugh was the only sound in the whole world.

"Come on," he invited.

"Shawn," she said, part admonishing, mostly amused. Her eyes were sparkling, glowing happily even amidst the dim lighting. Tonight, it was an even more beautiful sight than usual.

He moved towards the track, and after a brief pause, she strapped on her skates and joined him. Most of the lights flicked off, leaving them in shadow, until a spotlight turned on, focusing on them. Their shadows stretched out before them, a pair of silhouettes not quite touching. And, well, Shawn had to fix that.

So he twitched his ankle to the side, making his right skate swerve. He stumbled, nearly falling forward, throwing his arms to the side for balance. Juliet caught his arm, faltering a little herself as she steadied him. "Are you all right?"

Shawn straightened up, keeping his arm out for Juliet's hand. "Yeah, yeah I think so."

Juliet watched him with a knowing look even as she let her hand linger. "Did you do that on purpose?"

"No," he denied instantly, drifting into her. "Maybe. Okay yes, yes I did."

She shook her head affectionately, lowering her hand. He looked down at it, just hanging between them, and an image of Westwood popped into his mind. He reached for her hand, reached for a way to banish the image of Juliet's cold, still body, buried amidst blankets in the back of a truck.

He got a touch, but she didn't understand. Of course she didn't, he couldn't _tell_ her that he had found Westwood's body after a tense minute of thinking it was her body he would find. After a tense minute of remembering her every smile, remembering the times she had come to him after a near-death situation, the times he had gone to her after a particularly rough argument with his dad.

After a tense, eternal minute of wondering if he had taken all of that for granted.

But when she said "No hands" with just a hint of an edge to her tone, he listened. Sort of. The backs of their hands brushed together, and he didn't pull away. Neither did she. And for a few minutes, they just glided around the track together.

She was the first to break their silence. "Why did you really wait up for me?"

Shawn gestured from their touching hands to the sole spotlight to the sound of the music. "I thought it was obvious."

Juliet chuckled, shaking her head. "This isn't a date, Shawn."

He tilted his head, acknowledging the truth in her words. "Nope, because if this were a date, you would be wearing a cute little dress."

"Are you saying that what I'm wearing now isn't cute?"

"No! No, I love the yellow, and those shoes are just-" He flashed her a thumbs up.

She smiled, tucking her hair behind her ears. "So really, why are you here?"

_I guess I could… tell her a_ version _of the truth._ "That vision I had, the one of Westwood's body… I actually had part of it earlier. A bracelet in the parking lot – Westwood's. But it looked like the one you were wearing earlier, and it came after some of the other women made you hang up our call, so I thought…"

"So you thought it would be my body," she finished.

"Yeah."

She held his hand for a lap, her smile softening from amusement to gratitude. "That's very sweet of you, Shawn."

"Eh," he dismissed. "If you died, I'd have to deal with Lassie even more, and I just-" He shuddered. "I can't fathom such an awful world."

She gave him a good-natured shove with her shoulder. "He's not that bad, Shawn."

"I beg to differ."

"Beg all you want, it won't change my opinion."

"Oh, Jules, you _wound_ me," he said, clutching his chest.

She swiveled to skate backwards, smirking broadly. "You're damn right I do."

After shooting him with a pair of finger guns, sound effects included, she spun around and took off. In almost the blink of an eye, she had lapped him, the sparkle in her eyes turned to a competitive glint. "Oh, it is _on_ ," Shawn said, picking up the pace. She laughed as he drew even with her, pretending to throw an elbow into his gut. He flinched dramatically, throwing his hands up with a girly scream.

She just pulled back into the lead.

He dropped his hands. "That is _cold_. What if I was actually hurt?"

"I didn't even touch you, Shawn," she called.

"That's fair."

They didn't race for long, but it was all the reassurance Shawn needed. Jules was flushed, hair in disarray, panting a little, whooping as she took a few victory laps. Shawn drifted, laughing at her joy as she punched the air. She was vibrant and alive, and that was all that mattered.

Eventually she slowed, coming back to his side. She took a moment to fix her hair, running her fingers through it; she let him help a bit, moving a couple locks to where she could smooth them back into place. "Thanks," she said.

"It's really no problem at all. I'm always happy to help with your hair."

"Don't ruin the moment, Shawn."

"But I'm so _good_ at that."

She sighed, not without affection. Her next words were more serious, though. "I've been meaning to ask you something."

Shawn straightened up – those were never good words. "What?" he asked, not quite succeeding at hiding his wariness.

"The, uh, the pathological liar case a few weeks back… You seemed pretty intent on solving that one."

Shawn nodded slowly, remembering his dad saying the same thing. _Did I really make it that obvious?_

"And I just wondered… Any particular reason why?"

Shawn looked down. Their hands were brushing again, and where before it had seemed a strong promise of things to come, suddenly the contact seemed fragile. There were… there were two answers to that. His dad only knew one, so naturally he chalked it up to Shawn's psychic hoax. Gus alone knew the other. Well, outside of the guys Shawn had kissed, anyway.

"Yes," he answered hesitantly, avoiding her gaze.

She pressed her hand against his, her voice soft, encouraging. "Do you mind telling me?"

Shawn bit his lip. Did he? They had dealt with witnesses of similar leanings before, and she had never once seemed judgmental. It wasn't a thing cops should share, but then… he wasn't a real cop, was he? Just a consultant. And she had proven before that she was willing to cover for him, to lie for him. And if it meant one less lie between them…

"You don't have to," Juliet assured him hastily, starting to pull her hand back.

"No," he blurted, grabbing her wrist. No hands, she'd said – well, her wrist wasn't her hand. And if this changed everything… He wanted to hold her one last time.

"Take your time," she murmured.

He leaned into a few strokes, giving them some momentum. Then, letting that carry them forward, he clenched his eyes shut and quietly, oh so quietly, admitted, "I'm bisexual."

Her silence filled the next moments, louder than the music still playing around them.

_I just ruined everything. She's disgusted, she'll never want to see me again, she'll tell Vick, she- she- she'll-_

_My life is over._

Shawn pulled away, starting to make a run for the door.

Juliet caught his hand. "Is that it?"

Shawn froze in his tracks. Slowly, with the speed of a snail, he dared to look at her face again. "Is- is that… it?"

Her head was tilted, and there was no surprise in her eyes. He had just bared his greatest secret to her, and she had hardly even reacted. "You're… you're not disgusted, or disturbed, or…?"

She laced their fingers together, shifting closer to rest her other hand on his arm, looking up into his eyes. "Some of your jokes and your conduct at crime scenes might disturb me, Shawn, but who you are will _never_ disturb me. The only disturbing thing about your sexuality is that you have to feel like a pathological liar to hide it."

Shawn stared at her, searching for the deception. But she wasn't tense, or sweating, or fidgety. She was maintaining steady eye contact, her voice was strong, and there was no hesitation. She meant every single word, and she meant it with passion.

The relief was nearly enough to make his knees buckle.

As if sensing that, Juliet wrapped her arms around him, holding him in a tight, supportive hug. He held her tight, burying his face in her shoulder, reveling in the fact that he _could_ still hold her. Just, for an entirely different reason than a few minutes ago.

She kissed his cheek. "Thank you for trusting me," she whispered. "Even though I called this from the day we met."

Shawn laughed. As if that were a cue, they eased apart, but their hands lingered over each other. "Thank you," he said, completely sincerely for once in his life, "for accepting it from the day we met."

Juliet smiled, running her thumb over the back of her hand. "How about we go get some lunch?"

"Lunch sounds _great_. I could go for tacos."

"You know, I was just thinking that."

"Great minds think alike, Jules."

"Yes they do."

Hand-in-hand, they glided to the door.


End file.
